IBM Bans Apple Siri

Bringing your phone to work is going to get a little harder if you're an Apple fan and happen to work for IBM, as a ban has now been placed on iPhones, due to worries over the security surrounding the Siri app.

Ever asked your phone a silly question with some personal details in it? Perhaps left it on during a meeting? Since each question you ask goes straight to Apple to be translated and answered, IBM is worried that it could be storing those queries in one manner or another.

This isn't paranoia either, since Apple says in its Siri licence agreement that when you use the application, what you say is recorded and sent to Apple, in order to convert what you say into text. It also gathers names from your address book and other 'unspecified' data in order to better answer your question.

"By using Siri or Dictation, you agree and consent to Apple's and its subsidiaries' and agents' transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information, including your voice input and User Data, to provide and improve Siri, Dictation, and other Apple products and services," reads the user agreement.

How long Apple stores this stuff or what it does with it, is unknown.

Google recently introduced a measure that makes search terms and their results anonymous after nine months. Perhaps Apple could do with implementing something similar?